The present invention relates to a technique of performing print processing, proof output processing and the like employing color information, and more particularly, it relates to conversion of color information to digital data (conversion to electronic data).
In a conventional digital printing apparatus, such a technique that information related to a specific color is transmitted to a later step with a memo written on a paper medium or the like is employed when performing print processing based on digital data.
While proof output or the like is performed for a use for confirming finishing of printed matter or the like also in a printing operation by such a digital printing apparatus, it is the present situation that color information in this proof output is subjected to management separately from color information related to final printed matter.
In the aforementioned technique by information transmission employing a memo or the like, however, it is difficult to prevent occurrence of errors, and there is such a problem that a step of a confirmation operation or the like is excessively required for preventing errors.
The situation also expressible as double management between print processing and proof processing as described above is problematic from a point of implementing efficient data management.
The present invention has been proposed in consideration of the aforementioned subjects, and a first object thereof is to provide a printing system capable of correctly reflecting supplied color information and a technique related thereto. A second object is to provide a technique of managing color information in a centralized manner thereby facilitating maintenance of data or the like.
The present invention is directed to a printing system performing printing on the basis of digital data, which comprises a) a printing control unit managing color information, having registration means registering color information including color names and prescribed information related to the color names, specified color name acquisition means acquiring a color name specified as the color of a prescribed area in digital data subjected to printing, color information extraction means retrieving and extracting color information corresponding to the acquired color name from the color information registered in the registration means and raster image processing means performing raster image processing on the basis of the extracted color information, and b) printing means performing print processing on the basis of rasterize-processed data obtained by the raster image processing.
Therefore, it is possible to correctly extract color information corresponding to a color name specified as the color of a prescribed area in digital data subjected to printing and perform print processing on the basis of the extracted color information. In other words, it is not necessary to set color information transferred by a memo or the like per printing dissimilarly to the prior art, but print processing correctly reflecting supplied color information in digital data subjected to printing is enabled.
The present invention is also directed to that the color information includes information as a color plate and the printing means performs the print processing on the basis of the information as the color plate included in the color information extracted by the color information extraction means.
The printing means performs print processing on the basis of the information as the color plate included in the color information extracted by the color information extraction means of the printing control unit, whereby it is possible to perform print processing while correctly reflecting information related to the color plate.
The present invention is also directed to that the color information extracted by the color information extraction means includes the ink name of a first ink to be charged in the printing means, and the printing control unit further comprises confirmation means comparing the ink name of a second ink packaged in the printing means with the ink name of the first ink thereby performing ink confirmation processing.
It compares the ink name of the first ink to be packaged in the printing means and the ink name of the second ink packaged in the printing means on the basis of the color information extracted by the color information extraction means thereby performing ink confirmation processing, whereby it is possible to automatically confirm whether or not setting of the inks is correct.
The present invention is also directed to that the print processing includes trap processing deciding the direction of creeping of a plate, and the trap processing is performed on the basis of information related to printing order included in the color information extracted by the color information extraction means.
It performs the trap processing deciding the direction of creeping of the plate on the basis of the printing order included in the color information extracted by the color information extraction means, whereby this trap processing can be performed while correctly reflecting supplied color information.
The present invention is also directed to that the printing system further comprises confirmation output means performing confirmation output of printed matter, the color information includes information related to a pseudo color for expressing the color corresponding to the color name, and the confirmation output means performs confirmation output processing on the basis of the information related to the pseudo color included in the extracted color information.
The color information includes information related to the pseudo color for expressing the color corresponding to the color name and the printing system retrieves and extracts the color information corresponding to the color of the prescribed area in the digital data subjected to printing from the registered color information and performs confirmation output processing on the basis of the information related to the pseudo color included in the extracted color information, whereby simulation display can be performed on the basis of correct information. Further, the color information related to the pseudo color is registered in association with various information related to the color plate employed for printing and the color information is managed in a centralized manner, whereby maintenance of data or the like is easy.
The present invention is also directed to that the registration means retrieves, extracts and registers color information included in digital data.
The registration means retrieves, extracts and registers the color information included in the digital data, whereby a registration operation can be efficiently performed.
The present invention is also directed to that it further comprises a client coupled to the printing control unit through a communication system, and the client can access the color information registered by the registration means through the communication system.
It comprises the client capable of accessing the registered color information through a communication line, whereby it becomes possible to perform management of color information also by the client by reading or writing the color information registered in the printing control unit as to the color information managed in a centralized manner in the printing control unit, and maintenance of data is more facilitated.
The present invention is also directed to a printing method performing printing on the basis of digital data, including a step of registering color information including color names and prescribed information related to the color names, a step of acquiring a color name specified as the color of a printing object area in digital data subjected to printing, a step of retrieving and extracting color information corresponding to the acquired color name from the registered color information, a step of performing raster image processing on the basis of the extracted color information, and a step of performing print processing on the basis of rasterize-processed data obtained by the raster image processing.
Thus, it is possible to correctly extract the color information corresponding to the color name specified as the color of the prescribed area in the digital data subjected to printing for performing print processing on the basis of the extracted color information. In other words, it is not necessary to set color information transferred by a memo or the like per printing dissimilarly to the prior art, but print processing correctly reflecting supplied color information in digital data subjected to printing is enabled.
The present invention is also directed to a computer-readable recording medium recording a program to be read and executed by a computer thereby making the computer function as the printing control unit in the aforementioned printing system. A similar effect can be attained also in this case.
The present invention is also directed to a computer-readable recording medium recording a program to be read and executed by a computer thereby making the computer function as the client in the aforementioned printing system. A similar effect can be attained also in this case.